Imo State governorship aspirant, Robert Okpara, has reacted to the visit of Northern delegates to the South East over the ongoing agitation by the Idegenous People of Biafra, IPOB.
According to Okpara, the intervention of the Northern governors and a host of others is rather too late, arguing that if they had visited 3 weeks before now, the current crisis would have been avoided.
Okpara also questioned why the main actors in the crisis were not carried along, saying it’s laughable for the governors to pay visits to Rivers, Abia and Imo state governors without involving those who currently feel aggrieved.
Speaking with DAILY POST, Okpara said, ‘’This visit is a good one that will help to douse the avoidable tension that has enveloped the country, especially the Southeast and South South region.
‘’ However, since the visit has the blessing of President Buhari, why is such a critical meeting excluding the major agitators and stakeholders in the crises? It’s a laughable paradoxical irony to run Nnamdi Kanu and his leadership underground and pay a visit to the governors of Rivers, Abia and Imo state.
‘’This visit is too late. If they had held this meeting 3 weeks ago with Nnamdi Kanu, IPOB leadership, South East and South South governors, we won’t be on this brink where leaders are scrambling to put off the fire they set up in the first place. In law, you do not set your house on fire and invite the fire service and paramedics.
‘’Governor Kashim Shettima and his fellow travelers are standing logic on its head and wasting taxpayers money on a frivolous publicity stunt in their attempt to convince their colleagues in the region that the entire North is standing by the South East at this time.
‘’The same governor Shettima was consulted by the Arewa Youths when they issued the quit order to the entire Igbos living in the North? It is also a skewed trajectory for Governor Shettima to preach cohesion to the traditional rulers and leaders when they know that bigotry exists in the imbalance of federal appointments in favor of the North where critical kitchen cabinet presidential appointees are from the North.
‘’This is the same imbalance situation where the leadership of the entire security architecture of the federal government favors a section of the North. The governors are having a laugh when they intend to visit Rochas Okorocha and Governor Okezie, same governors that were part of the forum that proscribed IPOB in the first place. What in the world would the 2 governors tell their August visitors? Any such meeting in the South East without the the presence of Nnia Nwodo, the governors and Nnamdi Kanu will be a tantalizing mirage,’’ Robert said.
